Courageous Katie ... her fight has begun

Katie Goheen's battle with osteosarcoma - bone cancer - is a chilling echo of her father's own ordeal. Paul Goheen, founder of Wednesday Magazine, lived a full and active life even as he underwent three years of treatment for cancer. He died in 1996. Now, 12-year-old Katie is displaying a strength and resilience that would make her father proud.

The basketball hoop at the Goheen family's Central Kitsap home sees little action these days.

Katie Goheen, 12, has more on her mind than free throws.

Katie was diagnosed in January with osteosarcoma, or bone cancer, in her jaw.

She and her mother, Beth, and sisters Tessie, 14, and Becky, 11, have an uneasy sense of deja vu. Katie's father, Paul, the outspoken founder and publisher of Wednesday Magazine, also suffered from cancer and died in 1996.

The Goheen women are drawing on the resilience acquired from their previous ordeal, wrapping themselves in it like an overcoat against inclement weather. And they're reviewing lessons they learned from Paul Goheen, who bested the odds against him in both the length and quality of his life.

Several days after her first chemotherapy treatment in March, Katie curls in an armchair, playing tug of war with the family dog and recalling her father's illness.

"He didn't really act like there was anything wrong, because we still went the same places and did the same things," she says. "I remember going to a lot of doctors' offices and hospitals, but when he was home, he didn't really act like he was sick."

In the Goheen family, every day was "take your daughters to work day." The Wednesday Magazine office was familiar territory to the girls from the time they were in diapers. Yet Paul also found time for fun, bringing the family on trips and to Mariners' games.

The picture changed very little when he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in 1993. Despite surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, Paul remained active with work and family throughout his illness. He published his last issue of Wednesday Magazine two weeks before his death.

Beth and Jeanne Goheen, Paul's mother, still publish the paper on a monthly basis, along with Senior Focus.

Katie, freckled-faced with coffee-brown eyes, is a basketball player, a mystery book lover and an avid sock collector (she owns about 40 pair).

She's billed as the quiet sister. Tessie's the talker; Becky's "right in the middle," says Mom. The three girls are about as close as sisters can be.

At Tessie's insistence, Katie demurely pulls down the neck of her T-shirt to reveal a small bandage near her collar bone. A short tube poking from the bandage is surgically inserted into her chest to spare her multiple needle sticks during chemotherapy treatments.

Katie's family and schoolmates say they are amazed at her ability to carry on despite the nausea, hair loss and mouth sores that are among the side effects of treatment. Less than two weeks into chemotherapy, she went to her sister's band concert, "barf bag" in hand. A seventh-grader at Mountain View Middle School, she has continued to attend classes as she is able, wearing a hat.

"At first when I lost my hair, I started crying," said Katie when she was two months into treatment. "But then I got used to it, and now it doesn't bother me anymore."

"She's very strong," says Jeanne Goheen, who calls her granddaughter "the Energizer Bunny."

"She takes after her dad in that way ... Katie's a bit like I am. We accept things, and then we get on with it."

Katie received the cancer diagnosis from her oral surgeon first hand. She also was there when Dr. Philip Herzog, founder and director of the children's oncology department of Group Health Hospital in Redmond, later confirmed the diagnosis and outlined her options for treatment.

"It was like it wasn't happening to me," Katie says. "It felt like it was happening to someone else."

Knowing the seriousness of her situation is hard, says Katie, but it helps her focus on getting through the ordeal one step at a time. The children received complete information during Paul's illness, too.

"Sometimes, I was wondering if the girls are too young to hear everything," Beth says with a small sigh. "But I think it's good to know everything. Talking helps a lot."

Katie's case is unusual. In this country, bone cancer is rare among children younger than age 15. Approximately 400 children are diagnosed annually, and less than 5 percent of those cases involve the jaw.

To evaluate the best course of treatment for Katie, Herzog consulted with colleagues at major cancer centers - the Mayo Clinic, Children's Regional Hospital and Medical Center of Seattle, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Stanford University.

Herzog becomes "emotionally attached" to the children under his care. He rejoices when he's invited to a graduation or wedding, and when he loses a patient, he cries. Herzog says Katie's chances of survival are promising, her fighting spirit excellent.

"She's going through this therapeutic process with an amazing amount of calm and equanimity," he says. "She's really doing well."

At the end of April, Katie had finished her first two chemotherapy treatments.

Four days ago, she underwent a 16-hour surgery at Children's Hospital to remove part of her jaw bone and replace it with a portion of bone from her leg.

More chemotherapy and reconstructive surgery to replace her teeth will come later.

The day after surgery, she was resting in the hospital's intensive care unit.

* Friends of Katie Goheen have established an account in her name to help the family with extra expenses not covered by health insurance. Donations may be made at any Key Bank branch. Make checks payable to the Katie Goheen account.

* Katie and her family also welcome cards of encouragement, mailed to 3213 NE Franklin St., Bremerton, WA 98310.

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